Seven Ways to Stay Fit and Healthy If You Don’t like the Gym
Seven alternative ways of improving your health and fitness
The gym is not for everyone, nor is exercising in general. Here are seven ways that you can improve your health and fitness along with your general well-being that don’t involve going to the gym.
Ten minute at-home workout
You don’t need weights, you don’t even need resistance bands, if you wish to and are able to add one or both of the latter, they can be a great help, but bodyweight exercises alone are enough.
There is much evidence out there showing that exercising for ten minutes using bodyweight exercises alone, as long as they are done four or five times a week, can have profound health benefits. The top exercises are the plank, press-ups, sit-ups, squats, and lunges.
I have a friend who on a daily basis does the plank for one minute, fifteen situps, fifteen press-ups, fifteen squats, and then fifteen lunges. He tells me that he is in better shape now than when he was a gym user, mainly because he didn’t like the gym so rarely went.
Walking
The more you walk places, the healthier you are likely to be. There is much evidence that shows that two 20/30 minute daily walks can have profound benefits to your health. It can improve the health of your heart, your cardiovascular conditioning, it can prolong your life, and so much more.
So, whether it’s choosing to walk someplace instead of driving, or deliberately going out and having two walks each day, a great way to avoid the need for the gym is walking more.
Even if you love the gym, walking is still a great way to improve your health and general well-being. I enjoy the gym but don’t enjoy cardio, that’s why I go for two walks a day because that’s how I get my cardio. And it very much makes a difference.
Note: if you don’t like walking, find a hobby that you need to walk to take part in. For example, golf or nature photography.
Jogging
There are not that many people who are a fan of jogging, but it is an excellent alternative to the gym for those who wish to keep fit. Going for a twenty-minute jog three times a week can lead to profound health benefits, and if you are able to increase those twenty-minute jogs and turn them into thirty-minute jogs the benefits are greater still.
I have a friend who started using jogging as a means of getting fit, which was surprising because he hates running. He told me that was why he started doing it, he realised that he disliked jogging so much that the moment he started running he was desperate to reach the end which made him run faster and helped him reach the end faster.
Whatever works for you. But if you find you are able to go for a short jog a few times a week, it can greatly improve your general well-being, arguably even more than going to the gym.
Cycling
Cycling is a great good way of keeping yourself fit and healthy, going for a bike ride even just a few times a week or even just once a week — if it’s a decent length ride, think 45/60 minutes — can greatly improve your cardiovascular levels, and thus your general health and well-being.
So, if you’re not a fan of the gym, give cycling a go and if you don’t like the riding up the hills part, find places where there are not many hills that you have to ride up.
I have a friend who does this, she takes her bike to the riverside and cycles the river path — which is completely flat. Over the course of one year, doing this twice a week, she lost over three stones in weight and went from being overweight to having a toned body.
Take up a non-sedentary hobby
If you like martial arts, start doing a class, if you like dancing, take up dancing, if you like climbing, start going climbing, if you like hiking, start going hiking. If you like photography, take up photography and use it as a means to start going hiking. If you like swimming, take up swimming.
There are many hobbies out there that can aid us in keeping fit and healthy, all you have to do is find the one that most suits you. Even gardening can make a difference because it keeps you active and the goal is to try to find hobbies that can get you active.
Volunteering for charities as well is a good way to get active. There are many options out there so if you want to find to keep yourself more fit and healthy that does not involve the gym, get looking for a hobby that can get you active. It can make all the difference.
Housework
There is a reason housewives of old used to always be in such good shape, and that reason was housework. It’s quite amazing how vacuuming and cleaning on a daily basis can have a profound benefit to your health. Mainly because it is hard work.
I have a friend who started using housework as a form of exercise, 3 to 4 times a week in the morning he gets up early and whether it is vacuuming the carpets or scrubbing the sinks till they are sparkling or whether it is cleaning the shower or the bath or whatever, he spends 30/45 minutes doing it. And doing it well at that i.e. with a clean freak mentality.
He tells me that doing so gives him a better workout than the treadmill. The best thing about it all, he gets a clean house as a reward. So, if you wish to improve your cardiovascular levels and your general health, and you don’t like the gym, or exercise in general, start treating housework as a form of exercise, not only will it help you get fit, it will give you a sparkling clean house.
Start standing up more
The majority of people these days work a sedentary job, so spend most of their day sitting around. A great way to combat this is to where possible replace sitting with standing. For example, standing desks are becoming more popular for many reasons, one of them being that they help to stop you from sitting for such long periods.
The benefits are not as profound as if you start exercising, but utilising a standing desk rather than a sitting one, even if only for a few hours a day, can be beneficial for combating the downsides of a sedentary job. And as they say, every little helps.
Note: you can even utilise this when at home, stand up while watching the TV, stand up while playing a computer game. The goal is if you are sitting around most of the time, just stand up, it’s amazing how doing so can help improve your health — especially when added to other small changes like going for daily walks et cetera.
Final words
The best way to keep fit and healthy will always be finding as many ways to keep yourself active in some shape or form that work for you as possible. The important phrase is always “that work for you”, nobody will ever keep doing something that they find so tedious that it takes an immense effort to do it once let alone to do it on a weekly basis.
So, if you don’t like the gym, but you wish to be in better physical shape and health, get looking for as many alternatives as possible. They are out there, you just have to be willing to find them.
That’s all from me, thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, you may also enjoy the following:
Ten Simple Ways to Lose Weight and Keep It Off
Five Things I Did That Helped Me Get Great Abs
The Most Important Person You Need to Listen to If You Want Great Abs
To learn more about me see this link, to support me click the link below:
